![[Saint Leander of Seville]](saintl50.jpg "33kb jpg detail from the painting 'Saint Leander and Saint Bonaventura', by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1665-1666, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Seville, Spain; please do not write to ask about the image")
Converted princes Hermenegild and Reccared, sons of the Arian Visigoth king Leovigild, who then exiled Leander to Constantinople from 579 to 582. There he became close friends with the papal legate who later became Pope Gregory the Great; he recommended Gregory write his famous commentary (Moralia) on the Book of Job.
When Reccared ascended the throne, Leander was allowed to return to Seville. Worked against Arianism. Presided over the Third Council of Toledo in 589. His boundless energy and steady faith led the Visigoths back to orthodox belief.
Wrote an influential Rule for nuns. Intoduced the Nicene Creed to Mass in the west. Honored as a Doctor of the Faith by the Church in Spain.
New Catholic Dictionary Today's Saint by Gail Buckley Catholic Encyclopedia The Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Brunson